Roman Republic Midterm

Comitia curiata

The oldest Roman assembly; organized into 30 curiae. Confers imperium and confirms adoptions.

Comitia centuriata

Military assembly organized in 193 centuries and weighted toward the wealthy. Elected consuls, praetors, censors, and voted on war.

Comitia tributa

Assembly of all citizens voting in 35 tribes. Elected quaestors, curule aeidiles, and passed laws. Weighted towards rural voters.

Concilium plebis

Assembly of only plebeians voting by tribe. Elected tribunes, plebeian aediles, and passed binding plebiscites.

Quaestor

Magistracy handling finance

Aedile

Magistracy handling games, markets, and buildings

Praetor

Magistracy handling justice and sometimes commanding armies (held imperium outside Rome)

Consul

Chief magistracy; commanded armies and held the power of the old king

Censor

Magistracy which kept up the census and managed the Senate roll

Tribune of the Plebs

Magistracy meant to protect the plebeians from overreach. Held veto power and sacrosanct status.

Cursus honorum

The ladder of political offices one climbed. Quaestor, aedile, praetor, consul, censor

Dictator

Emergency magistracy with supreme imperium. Limited to 6 months and named by a consul

Master of horse

The dictator's deputy

Interrex

A patrician senator who held office for 5 days at a time when there were no consuls. Main role was to hold elections

Senate

300 ex-magistrates (later 600 after Sulla). Held no official power but decisions were seen as religious and were often culturally binding.

Equestrian (Eques)

Equestrians had the highest property ranking in the census but did not pursue office (typically businessmen).

Capite censi

Citizens with too little property to be ranked. Ineligible for military service (before Marius).

Nobiles

Families with a consular anscestor

Novus homo

First man of a family to reach the consulship

Clients/patronus

Hereditary relationship of protection and favors given in exchange for loyalty

Amicus

Political friendship between near-equals built on reciprocal obligation

Dignitas

Personal standing or worth built from offices and deeds

Auctoritas

Influence or the weight that one's opinion carries

Laus

Praise

Gloria

Lasting fame (military especially)

Mos maiorum

Custom of the ancestors; unwritten standard of conduct

Res publica

"the public thing” meaning the state or commonwealth

Pontifex maximus

head priest/religious figure typically selected from the Senate

Augury

reading the will of the gods from signs (auspices) before taking an action

Auspices

signs of the gods’ will

Pomerium

the sacred boundry of the city of Rome where imperium is meant to end

Templum

area marked out by augurs for taking auspices and Senate was required to meet in one

Census

done every 5 years by the censors and registered citizens by property

Triumph

Victorious general’s procession through Rome to the Capitoline hill

Cognomen

Third name marking the family branch

Agnomen

An honorific name earned by military deeds

Quaestio perpetua

A standing court

Quaestio de rebus repetundis

first permanant court; established for trying extortion by governors

Kalends

first of the month

Nones

fifth or seventh in March, May, July and October

Ides

thirteenth or fifteenth in March May, July, and October

Capitolium

Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline

Palatine

Elite residential hill

Forum

Political, judicial, and commercial heart of the city

Vestibulum

Entryway into a house

Atrium

main hall of a house where important people would display icons of their accomplishments

Tablinum

office/reception room of a house

Salutatio

Clients’ morning greeting of a patron

The four comitia

Legal assemblies of the republic (curiata, centuriata, tributa, and plebis)

Arx

summit of the Capitoline

Haruspicy

Reading entrails (liver especially) of animal sacrafices and interpreting prodigies

The Gracchi

Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus who attempted populist agrarian reforms. Their mother Cornelia was daughter of Scipio Africanus

Princeps senatus

First senator listed on the roll who always spoke first. A first among equals

Scipio Africanus the Younger

Adopted into the Scipio family and brother-in-law of Tiberius Gracchus. Originally a cautious protector, he later openly approved of the killing of Tiberius. Inflicted the final defeat against Carthage and Numantia

Senatusconsultum ultimum

Ultimate decree of the Senate of questionable legality that gave full discretion to Colsul to “see to it that the state suffer no harm”

Ager publicus

Land owned by the Roman state (much of which was occupied by the wealthy)

Lex Sempronia agrarua

Law passed by Tiberius that attempted to reform public land

Attalus III

King of Pergamon who left kingdom to Rome upon his death. Tiberius wanted to use this to fund his law

Lex Acilia

gave equites power by putting them in control of the juries

Lex Rubria

established first overseas colony in what used to be Carthage

Junonia

the name of the colony established in Carthage (later repealed)

Numantia

area/people in north Spain allied with Carthage in the Punic Wars and destroyed by Scipio in 133

Pergamon

city and kingdom in western Asia Minor given to Rome upon the death of the king

Asia

Province organized from Pergamon

Fregellae

Latin colony in Latium revolted in 125 when the citizenship bill failed. Between Rome and Naples

Narbo

Roman colony in southern Gaul founded in 118

Arpinum

Town in souther Latium. Hometown of Marius and Cicero

Scordisci

Balkans; people from the area were raiding Macedonia

Taurisci

Eastern Alps

Cimbri and Teutones

Germanic peoples from Jutland roaming Gaul and the Alps; defeated Rome in battle in 113 and 105

Ambrones

Allied with the Teutones

Tigurini

Tribe from modern Switzerland

Allobroges

Tribe of southeastern Gaul

Arverni

Tribal kingdom in central Gaul

The Metelli

Noble family with multiple consulships in the 110s. Patrons of Marius

M. Octavius

Opponent and fellow tribune of Tiberius who refused to withdraw his veto of the agrarian reform. Was deposed by Tiberius

Drusus the Elder

the tribune selected by the Senate to undermine the efforts of Gaius Gracchus

Ap. Claudius Pulcher

princeps senatus and father-in-law of T. Gracchus

P. Licinius Crassus Mucianus

pontifex maximus in 131 and replaced Tiberius on the land comission and died in 130 fighting in Asia

P. Mucius Scaevola

Consul in 133; advised on the agrarian law and refused to use force against Tiberius

M. Octavius

Tribune deposed by Tiberius

P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio

Pntifex maximus who killed Tiberius

P. Popillius Laenas

Consul in 132; ran the tribunal prosecuting supporters of Tiberius

C. Hostillius Mancinus

Consul in 137 and fought in Spain with Tiberius as his Queastor

Jugurtha

Numidian prince who became king and started a war against Rome

Bocchus

Jugurtha’s father-in-law who handed him over to Sulla in 105

Metellus Numidicus

Consul in 109 and commander against Jugurtha with Marius as legate. Command was taken by Marius after his election as consul.

Julia

Aunt of Julius Ceasar and wife of Marius

Strabo

Father of Pompey and consul in 89; took part in the battle of 87

Domitius Ahenobarbus

As tribune passed a law that made priests elected

Cicero

served under Strabo in the social war and was a renowned orator in the courts

Velites

skirmishers in the legions; poorest and youngest

Hastati

front line of legions; young men

Principes

second line of legions; prime fighters

Triarii

veteran fighters making up the last line of the legions

Century

unit of 80-100 men

Maniple

2 centuries

Cohort

3 maniples. Main tacticle unit; 10 per legion

Centurions

professional officers who commanded the centuries

Legates

Senatorial deputies to a commander